Brotherhood: Memories that linger
by Selket90
Summary: After their departure, Yugi looks back on his duel and the strong bond of friendship he shared with Pharaoh Atemu and the things he learnt from him. Non Yaoi. ONE-SHOT.


**Author Note: **I've always thought of Yami Yugi (Atem) and little Yugi as a pair of adopted siblings. They share a unique bond between them that goes way beyond the mere influence of the Millennium Puzzle or the inevitable "fate" assigned for both of them. Something a little more complex than friendship; I want to believe it is a special kind of love more like **brotherly love**. So, here is a little piece of what I thought might be Yugi's feelings and thoughts after their departure.

Please enjoy!

**Brotherhood: Memories that linger.**

It's hard for me to write these lines, both for the memories and the feelings those pictures of the past awakens. It's been almost a year and a few months ever since we cast ourselves into an ancestral journey in order to help The Other Me's spirit wait, I meant, Pharaoh Atem's spirit back to the afterworld.

What kind of feelings and words may have remained untold? I wonder. I tried to express everything I felt through my cards: the pain of the loss and the desire of a better future for the person who helped me to build my courage and strength. I wanted him to understand that I wished for him to be happy, to thank him for everything he taught me and that I was finally able to stand up by myself. I've come to realize much of Pharaoh Atem's strong personality still lingers in the depths of my heart. A little weird if you ask me, but what can you expect after sharing the same body, heart and mind with someone after so much time?

He was…it is quite hard to describe what he was and what he truly meant for me. But to put it simply: He was the big brother I've never had. Thinking of him under such a light reminds me, after that memorable voyage into the ancestral land of Egypt things became a little awkward between all of us. Well, mostly on the guy's side. Every once in a while they would call me "other Yugi" or "Pharaoh" or as Anzu once called me "My dear Atem" (oh, it _did _hurt if just a little) which of course, was an obvious manifestation of their mourning. For me, it was much harder to overcome. At school sometimes, people would gather around me (awkward) to either challenge me to (sometimes annoying) games or duels or just simply chat about my former duels in the Kingdom and Battle City. After a while, I would start blabbering about this guy's pieces of wisdom and what-not and my classmates would then ask:

"Hey Yugi, who's this guy you're talking about? 'Cause he definitely sounds _too cool_ to be Jonouichi!" I would proceed to answer something along these lines:

"Oh, he's my other sel- I mean! He's m-my brother. Yeah, he's, I mean, _was_ my older brother."

"Really?! We didn't know you had an older brother! What's he like? He a strong duelist?"

"Yeah, well. Umm, he…How can I say this? Umm, h-he's not around anymore. He passed away…a few months ago" People would then immediately apologize, share their condolences and drop the subject. And that is how I came up with this twisted idea of making the three thousand year old soul of the Pharaoh, my deceased brother. It made things easier for me, I was free to talk about the one person I missed the most without much restraint, of course, people would never try to get too many explanations out from a guy who's just lost his older brother. Long story short, it was easier to express my mourning and my loss in a more natural way without being harassed with dumb questions.

Anyhow…Like I said in the past, this was not the story of a "Great Pharaoh". His might have come to an end, yes but we, all of us have a story to tell and mine had just begun right there, in the Valley of the Kings; the same place where many ancient stories came to an end, the sacred place where Pharaohs of the past ended their earthly wandering and prepared for a new beginning in the Afterlife. It held a lot of meaning to me back then and still has to this very day. Atemu-niisan (that's how I started to call him on my mind and to everyone who asked me my older brother's name, this was my answer) with his death, taught me that, the great valley is not actually a place for the dead to rest, but it's a place to begin a new life.

That guy...

I don't think he ever came to realize the profound impact he left on us. His obsession with winning and his sayings "I'll never give up! I'll fight until the end!" became an inseparable part of us and with that aggressive drive each one of us set off to pursue our own dreams:

Anzu won a scholarship at a local well-known dance academy and is trying her best to save money and go to America to continue her dancing studies. Otogi-kun is working part-time at my Grandpa's game store, he says he's doing it to repair the damage caused by his father's hatred and to get experience so he can build a whole new game store. By the way, he's quite a creative mind, he comes up with new games every once in a while. We all enjoy playing them and as far as I know, three of his new games have been produced and sold in stores around Japan and they're becoming very popular. Honda has grown quite attached to Jonouchi's younger sister, Shizuka, not that poor Jonouichi is ok with it. However, his skills as a duelist have improved a great deal; actually he wishes to become a professional duelist. He's positive he'll defeat me and Kaiba someday and I'm looking forward to battle my friend once again.

As to Ryo-kun, we can say he's finally free from Dark Bakura's abusive mind-control; he's expressed his most heart-felt intentions to collaborate along with Otogi-kun developing new RPG table-top games (sadly, no one wants to play RPG games with him…for a while, that is) And secondly he's aiming to succeed his father managing the Domino Museum and it's relics.

As for the Kaiba brothers, they're working on their own projects as well. Mokuba told us, his brother Seto, intended to create free amusement parks all around the world so orphan children could enjoy. This was hard to believe at first, but I knew from the beginning (and thanks to my other me's persuasion) that the Kaibas were nice, kind people. About the rivalry between Seto Kaiba and myself, I'd say we respect and acknowledge each other as a true duelist. He's challenged me after he heard the passing of "the other me" and said he wanted to test my _real _strength. Our match is still on hold, but I can't wait for it to happen. I'm really looking forward to it.

As for me, ever since I put together the Millennium Puzzle and began to discover the close relationship between Duel Monsters and the Ancient Egypt, I couldn't help but to feel attracted by it. The desire to unravel the mysteries of the Ancient Egypt, only grew stronger after our travel to the Memory World and the subsequent visit at the Valley of The Kings. I've decided I want to unravel those mysteries. Who knows? Maybe I'll end up becoming an Egyptologist…A professional duelist and Egyptologist. Yes, I'll never stop dueling. How could I? I will take my cards and challenge strong duelists wherever my path ends up taking me. I use two decks. The one I built to win the Ritual Battle and of course, the original deck we, Atemu and I, built together. So, whenever I fight and wherever I go, the presence of my wise friend accompanies me along the way, giving me strength and courage.

I will become stronger, that was my promise to Atemu…Atemu-niisan.

Even though I began to walk my own path, I can't help but realize that there's still a lot of him in me: pride, honor, strength, courage. I learnt it all from him, but then gain the question pops annoyingly into my mind. What did he truly meant for me? Was he a crazy mercenary who delivered justice upon the evil-doers with merciless fist of iron? Or was he the just spirit of an old pharaoh who shared his ancestral and tragic fate with me? Or was he a loyal friend and noble warrior who would put his own life on the line in order to protect his friends? I'm certain, he was all of that and much more.

After all this time I can finally confront myself and look at those events exactly as they were: The inevitable death of my best friend. A cruel reminder that life is nothing but the blink of an eye and that every moment with your friends and family must be cherished and that death eventually catches up with every single one of us, no matter if you're a simple person or a powerful king.

In loving memory of my hero, my goal and my best friend; Pharaoh Atemu.

Whose remembrance and friendship shall forever remain in our hearts.

**Author Note: **As you've come to realize, this small one-shot is written on Yugi's POV. I hope I didn't make him too much OOC, tough being a fanfic that can't be helped. Well, any kind of comment, review and constructive criticism is always well appreciated.

Thank you for reading!


End file.
